Department of Emergency Management will be testing the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system simultaneously with SoCoAlert and the National Weather Service NOAA Weather Radio System on Thursday, September 5th, 2019 from 10:00 until 11:10 am. Most landlines and residents located within the communities of Healdsburg, Cloverdale, and Geyersville with subscriptions to SoCoAlert will receive a phone call or alert on their cell phone.

In the event of a real emergency, these systems can be activated to provide emergency instructions to residents and visitors.

Wireless Emergency Alert

The WEA system is similar to the Amber Alert system in which you will hear a loud tone on your phone along with a text message stating the following:

County of Sonoma Emergency Alert TEST. No action is required. Details www.SoCoPSA.org

This text message will be sent to all cell phones within the Communities of Cloverdale, Geyserville, and Healdsburg and does not require you to register.

SoCoAlert

SoCoAlert is a free emergency notification service that provides Sonoma County first responders the ability to notify residents and businesses by telephone, mobile phone, text message, email, and social media regarding time-sensitive, geographically specific emergency notifications.

The SoCoAlert notification will state the following:

This is a test of the SoCoAlert emergency notification system. If this had been an actual emergency, information on what to do would be heard here. For more information, please go to SoCoEmergency.org or call 2-1-1. Thank you for participating in Sonoma County Department of Emergency Management alert and warning test.

NOAA Weather Radio

In addition to WEA, and SoCoAlert, the County is partnering with the National Weather Service – San Francisco Bay Office, to test the NOAA Weather Radio system. The NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from the nearest National Weather Service office.

NWR broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts, and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This test will be the first in California to use an activation code for a non-weather event.

The NOAA Weather Radio broadcast will state the following:

This is a test, only a test. The following Civil Emergency Test Message is transmitted at the request of Sonoma County Department of Emergency Management. If this had been an actual emergency, information on what to do would be heard here. To learn more please contact the Sonoma County Department of Emergency Management or visit socoemergency.org

Any county resident with a NOAA radio may listen by tuning to frequency 162.475.

No Action is Required, however…

The County of Sonoma is asking residents of Cloverdale, Geyserville and Healdsburg, those receiving the WEA or SoCoAlert, and listeners of NOAA radio system to respond to a survey so we can learn more about who received alerts, their cell phone providers, where they were located at the time, etc.

Your feedback will help the County of Sonoma learn from today’s Alert and Warning Exercise to improve communication when emergency conditions arise.

This survey will be available until 5:00pm on Thursday, September 12, 2019.

The alert should automatically display on most mobile devices with a special tone and vibration, and this text:County of Sonoma Emergency Alert TEST. No action is required. Details www.SoCoEmergency.org